The present invention pertains to portable shields to be used as personal protection against the most typical civilian handguns and rifles. There have been many recent advances in the technology of resisting the impact and consequent damage from incident ballistic penetrators. Much of the technology has been directed at using complex assemblies of high-strength fabric layers or metallics or ceramics. This is partially due to the desire to resist ballistic weapons having ever-increasing energy, power and penetrating capacity seen in the law-enforcement and military fields. Because of this focus, what has been perceived as acceptable product monetary costs are too high for consumer use products and markets. Consequently, few of these products are available to the public for personal use. What is needed is a personal shield that is both very portable and also low cost.